Category Archives: Food

Post navigation

I enjoy studio work as well as outdoor photography. When I started studying food photography a few years ago, I found other photographers used distressed wooden table tops. So, I started a quest to find my own. I tried vinyl rolls, wallpaper wooden look-alikes, flooring and more including the real thing. But nothing looked quite right and the real wood was too deteriorated.

Until this past weekend when I got the idea to look again. Went to my favorite DIY store, Home Depot, and told them as usual what I was trying to do. After the odd looks, a rep took me to a new display. Jackpot!!

Home Depot now has their own brand of Weathered Wall Boards… guess we are returning to the wood paneling of many years ago. These boards come in a light and dark color. They are real hardwood and measure 4″w x 1/4″ thick x 48″ long… perfect! The texture is perfect too. I just laid them side by side on my regular table and can easily set them back in the box when not using them.

Best of all… 8 boards come in a box for $25… a great deal compared to buying and storing a big table. This is the first picture with the new “table”… more to follow!

I was setting up a wine, grapes and cheese shot and trying different backgrounds. Thought some of you might find it interesting that with the same setup and lights, what a big difference white and black backgrounds make! You can try this in your house with natural light too.

By using plain backgrounds, you can more easily change them out later or add textures with blend modes.

It has been wonderful to still enjoy shooting on these rainy days. Food is more challenging than you might think and I keep taking classes to learn the techniques necessary in prep and shooting. Many images can be used on greeting cards too!

Open a can of crescent roll dough and spread into greased 13×9 pan. Spread the cream cheese mixture on top. Open the other can and lay the dough on top gently. Then brush 1/2 cup melted margarine over the whole top layer. Mix 1/4 cup white sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle over the butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

When it cooled slightly, I added the apples from a can of apple pie filling… went the easy route!

Food in all its shapes and textures gives great practice for photographers. When couped up in your house during the winter or in the best of times, you can still take plenty of photos just using natural window lights.

Any food is a possible subject and I’ve been having a great time this winter. Above are just a few examples. Creative Live.com has several courses in food styling and photography that are great!

Andrew Scrivani’s Creative Live course has so much great information on food photography. This has become a real passion for me… similar to flowers in color and shape… but always accessible and great indoors!

For most of my food shots I use a lesser known Canon lens – 50mm macro 2.5… it’s awesome and under $300!